"They’re well balanced with 11 good players on the field at all times. They had a good attack and we had to work hard to get both goals today."

Early in the match though the Bulldogs looked like they may be the first team to put a goal in the net.

"They were just going after it like crazy, attacking balls," Freeport defender Tyra Maher said. "Sometimes they had more (attackers) than us (defenders), but we got over it and scored a goal."

Not only was Maher able to clear the ball in times of trouble, but keeper Heather Kittoe-DeBoer made a pair of tough saves to keep the match scoreless.

"She played well," Namio said of Kittoe-DeBoer. "It’s been a game-time decision which goalie we’ve been going with, but Heather is a senior, so we’ve gone with the decision to put her in the match."

The two teams had a couple of strong opportunities in the first half, but neither were able to score, due to the solid play of defenders.

"I thought Tyra Maher played an excellent game," Namio said. "They put a lot of pressure on her and Allie Stangeland, who dinged up her leg a little bit."

In the second half the Pretzels didn’t waste much time scoring their first sectional goal ever.

Hope Stayer applied pressure to a Bulldog defender, forced a turnover, then knocked the ball into the net from 16 yards out.

"You don’t realize how hard a shot that was to make," Namio said. "She had to chip it over the goalie’s head from an angle and she hit it perfectly into the side netting."

Once Freeport was on the board, the Bulldogs wouldn’t quit, attacking the Pretzel defense.

"For me, as a defender, it was a little iffy that they might be able to come back," Maher said. "A couple times they almost did, but we did it."

The Bulldogs had strong chances, but Kittoe-DeBoer and the Pretzel defense would not give in to the Bulldogs.

"They had a lot of breakaways on Tyra, especially in the first minutes or two, but I thought Heather Kittoe-DeBoer played excellent and made the saves she needed to," Namio said.

As the match went on, the deeper Bulldogs appeared to finally begin to wear out the Pretzels, but Maher and fellow defender Stangeland would clear the ball away from the net.

"I love clearing the ball," Maher said. "I think if I can get a touch on it, then I got it from them.

"A lot of times it wasn’t hard to clear, I just had to get control. Their main strength was their speed, I think that was what was the hardest to defend."

The Pretzel defense would be helped by midfielder Caitlin Greene, who would work back and forth from the offensive to the defensive parts of the field.

"She works hard," Namio said of Greene. "She was a little gassed at the end of the game.

"I would have liked to see her keep the ball in front of her, but she’s a possession keeper. She won a lot of 50/50 balls and she’s the reason we were able to attack and as much as we did, because of what she and Jazmyn Welch can do at that stopper position."

As the game was winding down and Wauconda was running out of chances, the Pretzels would salt the match away.

With the Bulldogs unable to clear the ball, Jenny Wright would dribble toward the corner.

Wright would then fire a near-perfect pass across the penalty area and onto the head of Stayer, who beat her marker down the field.

Stayer wouldn’t miss, heading in her second goal of the night with :40 seconds remaining.

"You could just see that goal coming," Namio said. "Jenny saw Hope going to the side post. They had a lot of defenders in there but we were able to get it over all their heads.

"That was a great header goal that finished them off."

With the win, Freeport moves on to Friday’s 6 p.m. sectional final at Belvidere.

The Pretzels play the winner of tonight’s second semifinal between Crystal Lake Central and Sycamore.

Sycamore defeated the Pretzels 3-2 in April, so Freeport wouldn’t mind a revenge rematch with the Spartans.

"We’ve had some great battles against Sycamore in all my years of coaching," Namio said. "I don’t know how many regional games we’ve had. We’ve had two PK (penalty kick) overtime shootouts with them and some of our best matches ever.

"If I had to guess, I’d say we’d play Sycamore, but you never know, I’ve scouted the wrong team before."

Also Online: Click here for a gallery of more photos from the game

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